1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to pulse oximetry and, more particularly, to mitigation of interference in pulse oximetry.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In the field of medicine, doctors often desire to monitor certain physiological characteristics of their patients. Accordingly, a wide variety of devices have been developed for monitoring physiological characteristics of a patient. Such devices provide doctors and other healthcare personnel with the information they need to provide the best possible healthcare for their patients. As a result, such monitoring devices have become an indispensable part of modern medicine.
One technique for monitoring certain physiological characteristics of a patient is commonly referred to as pulse oximetry, and the devices built based upon pulse oximetry techniques are commonly referred to as pulse oximeters. Pulse oximetry may be used to measure various blood flow characteristics, such as the blood-oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood, the volume of individual blood pulsations supplying the tissue, and/or the rate of blood pulsations corresponding to each heartbeat of a patient. In fact, the “pulse” in pulse oximetry refers to the time varying amount of arterial blood in the tissue during each cardiac cycle.
Pulse oximeters typically utilize a non-invasive sensor that transmits light through a patient's tissue and that photoelectrically senses the absorption and/or scattering of the transmitted light in such tissue. One or more of the above physiological characteristics may then be calculated based upon the amount of light absorbed or scattered. More specifically, the light passed through the tissue is typically selected to be of one or more wavelengths that may be absorbed or scattered by the blood in an amount correlative to the amount of the blood constituent present in the blood. The amount of light absorbed and/or scattered may then be used to estimate the amount of blood constituent in the tissue using various algorithms. Changes in the amount of arterial blood in the tissue during a blood pressure pulse may change the amount and character of the light detected by the sensor's photodetector.
Normally, obtaining pulse oximetry measurements involves physically attaching a sensor to an anatomical part, whereby the attachment can be accomplished in various ways, depending on the type of sensor and the anatomical part in question. Accordingly, this attachment can substantially influence the quality of the pulse oximetry measurement, which depends on the sensor's ability to detect changes in the concentration of arterial blood relative to other tissue structures in the portion of the tissue illuminated by the sensor. Therefore, motion of the sensor relative to the tissue or changes in tissue during a pulse oximetry measurement, such as voluntary or involuntary movements can lead to changes in the spatial relationship between the sensor and the tissue. Consequently, the light's optical path can change, which may cause the light emitted by the sensor to interact with different tissue structures and tissue surfaces having different levels of blood perfusion and/or different absorption scattering characteristics. Thus, the motion of the sensor relative to the tissue can result in variations of light intensities detected by the sensor during the measurement process, adversely affecting the values of physiological parameters derived from a pulse oximetry measurement. Such related-variations and aberrations within the derived data are typically referred to as interference. Unfortunately, such interference may give a false indication on the state of the physiological parameter being measured, and thus, degrade the accuracy and reliability of the physiological parameter obtained.